Fri Aug 17 09:25:23 EDT 2018

Slept from ten-thirty to seven, without waking.

High of eighty-two today. Thunderstorms likely.

Work:
- Check backup
  Done.
- Sage for Julie
  Done.
- Fix Heidi's Mail.app
  Done.

Scott took the day off.

Ten-minute walk at lunch.
Got rained on a little, but it's slightly cooler than yesterday.
Heard cicadas.

A low-key afternoon, for once.

Home:
- Buy groceries
  Done.

Read more Snow Crash.

http://www.smashcompany.com/philosophy/poland-was-shockingly-liberal-in-the-1400s
> The version of Western history that I was taught in school mostly focused on Spain and Portugal during the 1400s and 1500s, France and Germany in the 1700s and 1800s, Russia and Germany in the 1900s, and Britain during the whole era from the Dark Ages onwards. But I never learned anything about Poland, except for the weird fact that Copernicus showed up, out of nowhere, and suddenly invented modern science. Except he didn’t show up out of nowhere. As I’ve now learned, he grew up in the most liberal country in Europe while it was undergoing the greatest intellectual awakening outside of the Italian Renaissance, and unlike the situation in Italy, he didn’t have to worry about getting burned at the stake.
> As always, there were small, powerful factions that wanted to establish an oligarchy, concentrating all power and wealth into their own hands. The surprisingly liberal, constitutional and democratic nature of the Union lasted only because there was a broad category of people who were willing to fight against the corruption of constitutional rule. The most powerful lords and bishops set up the consilium secretum (Adam Zamoyski offers “Privy Council” as a translation) and tried to use it to undermine constitutional rule.
> The narrow self-interest of the szlachta lead to the destruction of the Polish kingdom during the 1700s. At that time, the szlachta were so selfish that they refused to pay all taxes, even those taxes that were necessary to pay for an army that could repel the invading Russian and German forces. Thus Poland was destroyed.
> But it is misleading to look only at how the story ends. Because earlier, the szlachta were also heroes of freedom, for two hundred years, starting in the late 1300s. I think a good analogy for the szlachta would be the Republicans in the USA. The Republicans start off, in the mid 1800s, as a progressive force, fighting against slavery and racism and fighting in favor of free movement, free labor, and equality before the law. But then in 1912 the Republicans face a crisis, and they are forced to choose between a reactionary wing lead by Taft, and a progressive wing lead by Roosevelt. The Republicans choose the reactionary path, and it leads to the slow, but inexorable, corruption of the party, with frightening authoritarian figures such as Senator Joe McCarthy appearing, first on the fringe, and then more and more at the center, till the party finally reached its current level of degradation, under President Trump, who has been willing to build alliances with foreign powers to conspire against his own country.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ambit

Ambit:  Sphere or scope, as of influence.

> "Speculation is not in my ambit."

Breakfast: cafe latte, sausage sandwich
Lunch: Thai noodles, coffee
Dinner: chips, beer